Up until the third grade I enjoyed school. I did not feel stressed or pressure and actually liked going to school to learn. I struggled in reading, but got extra help during half of math class to help me catch up with the majority of my peers. Then, my parents decided that they wanted me to go to a better school than my town's public school, so they sent me to a private school called Saint Mary's in Danvers. From third grade up until junior year in high school I did not truly enjoy school.
St. Mary’s transformed the way that I looked at school, but not in a positive light. Starting in third grade I started relating the feeling of stress and anxiety in to going to school. The teachers were not very fond of students who took a longer time to grasp the subject matter they were teaching. Granted, there were a select few teachers who were patient and approached learning in a less aggressive matter, but the majority of teachers were harsh. The years of third, fourth, and fifth grade are hazy but I do remember that those were the years that I truly started feeling trouble and distress towards school and learning. The opportunity to become a deep learner was lost with the stress of memorization, and I slowly became an extreme surface learner.
Surface learning continued to be the way I learned through out middle school. Seventh grade induced more stress on me in school than any other year because I had not yet learned how to deal with it. My seventh grade teacher, Mrs. Curtis, was a spiteful woman with no sympathy.Her face was very aged and her hair was shoulder length and grey; she never smiled unless it was while making fun of a student. Ever since her seventh grade class I have suffered from extreme test anxiety. She would call out students for wrong answers and embarrass them in front of the class to try and prove a point. One memory of her will always stay with me. I had asked her how to spell a word and she told me to go to the front of the class. She then put a dictionary in front of me and made the entire class watch as I struggled to find the word. When I could not find it, she placed another dictionary in front of me and told me to continue looking. Many kids in the class were laughing and thought her mockery of me was entertaining. This process continued and I had gone through six dictionaries before she called up another innocent student to look for the word. When they could not find the word either, she looked in the dictionary herself and it appeared the word was not in it. She then told me to go back to my seat and never told me how to spell the word. Incidences like these occurred both seventh and eight grade. I have hated public speaking, giving presentations, and being alone in front of large crowds ever since then.
After middle school, I was certain that I was going to a public school for high school. When I attended Danvers High School my school experience slowly started improving. It wasn’t until junior year that I truly started learning to deal with anxiety about tests and giving presentations. I had some of the best teachers my junior and senior year. I was lucky to have understanding teachers these years that would push you to do your best, get to know you personally, and always try to make you feel comfortable. Although they could not get rid of all the damage from my elementary and middle school years, they truly did help me and changed the way I approached school.
The influence of my early schooling damaged the way I approached school. Over time, my attitude and worth ethics have slowly changed for the better. I hope I can continue to improve them as I advance in school.
EDC
Early schooling
Up until the third grade I enjoyed school. I did not feel stressed or pressure and actually liked going to school to learn. I struggled in reading, but got extra help during half of math class to help me catch up with the majority of my peers. Then, my parents decided that they wanted me to go to a better school than my town's public school, so they sent me to a private school called Saint Mary's in Danvers. From third grade up until junior year in high school I did not truly enjoy school.
St. Mary’s transformed the way that I looked at school, but not in a positive light. Starting in third grade I started relating the feeling of stress and anxiety in to going to school. The teachers were not very fond of students who took a longer time to grasp the subject matter they were teaching. Granted, there were a select few teachers who were patient and approached learning in a less aggressive matter, but the majority of teachers were harsh. The years of third, fourth, and fifth grade are hazy but I do remember that those were the years that I truly started feeling trouble and distress towards school and learning. The opportunity to become a deep learner was lost with the stress of memorization, and I slowly became an extreme surface learner.
Surface learning continued to be the way I learned through out middle school. Seventh grade induced more stress on me in school than any other year because I had not yet learned how to deal with it. My seventh grade teacher, Mrs. Curtis, was a spiteful woman with no sympathy. Her face was very aged and her hair was shoulder length and grey; she never smiled unless it was while making fun of a student. Ever since her seventh grade class I have suffered from extreme test anxiety. She would call out students for wrong answers and embarrass them in front of the class to try and prove a point. One memory of her will always stay with me. I had asked her how to spell a word and she told me to go to the front of the class. She then put a dictionary in front of me and made the entire class watch as I struggled to find the word. When I could not find it, she placed another dictionary in front of me and told me to continue looking. Many kids in the class were laughing and thought her mockery of me was entertaining. This process continued and I had gone through six dictionaries before she called up another innocent student to look for the word. When they could not find the word either, she looked in the dictionary herself and it appeared the word was not in it. She then told me to go back to my seat and never told me how to spell the word. Incidences like these occurred both seventh and eight grade. I have hated public speaking, giving presentations, and being alone in front of large crowds ever since then.
After middle school, I was certain that I was going to a public school for high school. When I attended Danvers High School my school experience slowly started improving. It wasn’t until junior year that I truly started learning to deal with anxiety about tests and giving presentations. I had some of the best teachers my junior and senior year. I was lucky to have understanding teachers these years that would push you to do your best, get to know you personally, and always try to make you feel comfortable. Although they could not get rid of all the damage from my elementary and middle school years, they truly did help me and changed the way I approached school.
The influence of my early schooling damaged the way I approached school. Over time, my attitude and worth ethics have slowly changed for the better. I hope I can continue to improve them as I advance in school.